Manet on the front lines of health care revolution

In the past year alone, Manet Community Health Center has opened a sixth medical facility in Taunton, opened new administrative offices in Milton and started a major expansion of its North Quincy branch

QUINCY – America could be embarking on the golden age of the community health center – and there’s no better example of that than the Manet Community Health Center.

In the past year alone, Manet, the Quincy-based non-profit that caters to patients with limited access to health care, has opened a sixth medical facility in Taunton, opened new administrative offices in Milton, started a major expansion of its North Quincy branch and was given the highest-possible designation by a national health plan accreditor.

Manet’s growth is largely a result of widespread health care reform, both in Massachusetts and nationally. The state’s health care law in 2006 and the U.S. Affordable Care Act in 2010, both aimed at getting all residents health insurance, have increased funding for centers like Manet, which provide outreach to the uninsured.

Manet, which began in 1979, will open its doors to the public this week to celebrate National Health Center Week, showcasing its new-look North Quincy branch on Tuesday. By project’s end, the facility at 110 West Squantum St. will have 27 new exam rooms and Manet’s first-ever vision center and pharmacy.

Manet’s other five locations – in Quincy in Houghs Neck, Snug Harbor and Quincy Medical Center, and in Hull and Taunton – will also offer tours throughout the week.

“We seek to be a good neighbor,” Cynthia Sierra, Manet’s interim CEO, said. “We want folks to be very pleased by what they see here. And we want them to come in and take a tour.”

Sierra became interim CEO in June after Henry Tuttle resigned to take a new job in California. Sierra said Manet’s board of directors will hire a permanent CEO soon.

Health centers are federally-supported organizations that provide primary care and a range of specialized services to the underserved and vulnerable, such as the unemployed and elderly. Among Manet’s offerings, for example, are prenatal care, immunizations, HIV testing, chronic disease management and diabetes treatment. Manet is privately operated.

Education and and helping people navigate the health care system are also pillars of a community health center’s mission. Manet’s staff of doctors, nurses and counselors educate patients on a variety of issues such as sexual health, nutrition, financial planning and drug abuse. The group distributes Narcan, which is a substance that prevents an overdose from heroin and opiates.

Manet’s navigators help the uninsured get health plans that meet the needs of the individual or family. Sierra said Manet’s percentage of uninsured patients fell from 33 percent to 18 percent after Massachusetts adopted its health care law in 2006.

Sierra said that figure has dropped to 13 percent since the passage of the Affordable Care Act.

Page 2 of 2 - Though community health centers are viewed by some as the safety net for the government-insured or uninsured, Sierra said 35 percent of Manet’s patients are privately insured by their employers.

“We’re very pleased to have that heterogeneous mix, that hybrid-payer mix in our patient population,” she said. “That says to us that patients choose us and it’s an environment of inclusion, no matter what walk of life you come from, what socioeconomic group, what environmental factors (or) barriers you may face.

“We certainly have an emphasis on the marginalized, the disenfranchised, but the doors of the health center are open to all.”

Last month, the National Committee for Quality Assurance, a nonprofit accrediting agency endorsed by the federal Department of Health and Human Services, designated Manet as a Level 3 Patient-Centered Medical Home, the highest level achievable.

By the accreditor’s standards, a “medical home” is a program that provides patient care across the health care system with a team-like approach. Sierra equated it to a “one-stop shop” for medical care.

Manet puts a lot of focus on preventative care, which officials see as a key to reducing long-term health care costs.

Earlier this year, the state’s Department of Public Health selected Manet as one of nine recipients of the agency’s Prevention and Wellness Trust Fund, created in 2012.

“Over the next three years, they will be leaders in providing services to the community that have been proven effective in addressing tobacco use, and reducing high blood pressure, falls in older adults and substance abuse,” David Kibbe, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Public Health, said.

Sierra said Manet has assembled a multilingual staff that can translate Chinese, Vietnamese, Arabic, Portuguese and Hindi, among other languages, for patients. She said immigrants and refugees, regardless of their citizenship status, can receive treatment at Manet.

Patrick Ronan may be reached at pronan@ledger.com or follow on Twitter @PRonan_Ledger.